Crime, Justice and Security Statistics - Year 2023
Highlights
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1. Crime, justice and security statistics comprises statistics compiled from the Mauritius Police Force, the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions, the Judiciary, the Mauritius Prison Service & the Probation and Aftercare Service.
2. Care should be taken in interpreting these figures. When comparing figures, it should be realised that police and judiciary figures are based on offences but prison and probation figures are based on offenders, and that many offenders are sentenced for more than one offence. Offences reported at the police can sometimes be reclassified as they proceed from police investigation through prosecution to final court sentence. Also trends in certain offences are subject to fluctuations as a result of sensitisation/awareness campaigns and intelligence-led operations. For example, the Road Traffic Act has been amended in August 2018. -
Key points -
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Crime, Justice and Security Statistics, Republic of Mauritius, 2022 & 2023
|
Key indicator |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Overall offence rate (excluding contraventions) per 1,000 population |
45.8 |
46.6 |
|
Intentional homicide rate1 per 100,000 population |
2.2 |
2.1 |
|
Road traffic contravention rate per 1,000 population |
90.3 |
105.8 |
|
Juvenile delinquency rate per 1,000 population |
4.6 |
7.4 |
|
Conviction rate2 pronounced in court per 1,000 population (excluding contraventions) |
24.8 |
23.2 |
|
Imprisonment rate3 per 100,000 population |
198.8 |
196.6 |
|
Average prison occupancy level
4 (%) |
66.2 |
65.0 |
1 Intentional homicide rate excludes "abortion" and "arson causing death"
2 Number of offences that led to conviction (as opposed to the number of persons convicted) per 1,000 population
3 Daily average number of detainees per 100,000 population
4 Prison population as a percentage of the prison capacity
3. Offences reported to the Police, excluding contraventions, increased by 1.6% from 57,846 in 2022 to 58,794 in 2023 mainly due to an increase in offences related to acts causing harm or intending to cause harm to the person (+27.7%) from 13,922 to 17,772 and partly offset by a decrease of 20.2% in offences related to other criminal acts not elsewhere classified from 25,076 to 20,021.
4. Road traffic contraventions increased by 17.1%, from 113,977 in 2022 to 133,434 in 2023. It is to be noted that "Motor vehicle licence not affixed" increased by 72.4% from 4,422 to 7,625.
5. Some 28,796 persons were suspected, arrested and/or cautioned in the course of criminal investigations in 2023, down by 20.3% from 36,128 in 2022. The number of persons prosecuted rose by 62.6% from 15,903 in 2022 to 25,862 in 2023.
6. From 2022 to 2023, the number of cases referred by Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to the Intermediate and Supreme Courts decreased by 4.1% from 1,029 in 2022 to 987 in 2023.
7. The number of criminal cases lodged in Court decreased by 6.0% from 94,212 in 2022 to 88,531 in 2023. During the same period, the number of criminal cases disposed of fell by 2.0% from 78,612 to 77,063.
8. Out of the 4,935 adult convicts admitted in prison in 2023, some 70.3% were re-offenders who had been imprisoned in the past, regardless of any observation period.
9. An average amount of Rs 955 was spent daily to maintain a detainee in 2023 in the Island of Mauritius compared to Rs 858 in 2022.
10. The number of Probation Orders issued, increased by 62.5% from 32 in 2022 to 52 in 2023.
11. The number of offenders, subjected to community service orders, decreased by 22.2% from 472 in 2022 to 367 in 2023.
June 2024
